Crime & Safety

Police ID Suspect in Abduction of 10-Year-Old Girl

The LAPD needs the public's help in locating Tobias Dustin Summers, who is known to frequent the Northridge and North Hollywood areas.

The Los Angeles Police Department has identified a suspect in the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 10-year-old Northridge girl.

Tobias Dustin Summers, 30, is wanted by the LAPD and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in connection with the case. Authorities are asking for the public's help in locating the man.

Click here to see video from the press conference where Summers was announced as a suspect.

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Summers is described as a white male, weighing 160 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes. Police said he has a large tattoo of a flaming skull and a woman on his right arm.

According to Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese of the LAPD, Summers is on parole and is a known transient who frequents the Northridge and North Hollywood areas.

Find out what's happening in Northridge-Chatsworthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Summers has an extensive rap sheet which includes robbery, kidnapping, explosives possession, battery and grand theft auto, Albanese said. He was recently released from prison in July 2012 after being convicted of petty theft with a prior charge, according to Albanese, who released Summers' photo and name during a press conference at the LAPD's Administration Building on Saturday afternoon.

Anyone who sees Summers is asked to immediately call 911.

The case involves a 10-year-old girl who was reported missing when her mother noticed her bed empty about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday in the family's home, in the 8000 block of Oakdale Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

About 3 p.m. Wednesday, somebody dropped the girl off at a Kaiser hospital, and she walked to a nearby Starbucks at Canoga Avenue and Oxnard Street in Woodland Hills, where a good Samaritan directed her to some police officers in the area.

Police said detectives interviewed the girl, who was seen arriving at a hospital with facial lacerations, but asked the public to understand they were dealing with a traumatized child. A black pickup truck was reportedly impounded during the course of the investigation.

The girl was sexually assaulted, law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times Thursday. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they told the Times that the abduction has been expanded to include a sex-crime investigation.

The girl reportedly told detectives she did not know either of the two suspects, one of whom was described as being a man about 18 years old. She told police she was held in an abandoned home near her house and later a storage facility, both of which have been searched by police.

As many as 20 detectives were believed to be working on the case. Police established a tipline for people to provide information about the investigation -- (213) 486-6890.

Previously:

  • Police to Name Suspect in Northridge Girl's Abduction Case
  • Police Hunt 2 in Abduction of 10-Year-Old Northridge Girl [Video]

City News Service and Patch editor Craig Clough also contributed to this report.


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